Due Date

When Sam wandered in after me and collapsed into an armchair, I said, “What worries me is that she’s avoiding us. Did we hurt her in some way? If so, I wish she’d just tell us. And if she’s started to date someone, well, I’d just like to know that too.”

Sam sighed.

“Hey guys,” a voice called out, and fresh footsteps sounded in the entrance hall.

Sam jumped up at the sound of the voice. “Man, don’t you believe in knocking?” he yelled.

“The door was wide open. You got movers going back and forth and up the stairs. I don’t think you can claim privacy right now.”

Noah sauntered into the sitting room and dropped into another chair. “So uh... you guys’ dad is marrying Grace’s mom?”

“That seems to be how it is right now, yeah,” I muttered.

“How’s Grace?” Noah asked.

“We haven’t got a fuckin’ clue. She was as sick as a dog the other night, and that’s the only time we’ve seen her. I thought we were getting along well that night.”

I don’t know whether Sam meant the night of her sickness or the previous night we’d seen her. The night we’d had a threesome. I thought we got along well every time we saw her, which made the lack of communication even harder to understand.

“She’s gotta show up here sometime.” I waved my hand toward the rest of the house and the guys moving in boxes to what will be her room.

“She’s not answering my texts. She’s really, really frustrating. Hot as hell, and I still fucking want her, but damn if she isn’t making it hard.”

“Sucks. That’s literally the same story with me,” Noah replied.

“Wait, what? You’ve been uh, pursuing her too?” I sat up in my chair.

“Yes? Didn’t Sam tell you?”

I looked toward my younger brother, who shrugged halfheartedly. “Didn’t seem important to mention.”

“Someone is trying to date my girl, our girl, and it’s not important to mention?”

He again just replied with another halfhearted shrug. “I don’t know, man. I want Grace. I want her bad. But there’s something about her that tells me that I’m not right for her. If she’s going to be fulfilled and happy, then she might want someone else.”

Someone else be damned. I silently seethed at the thought of Noah seeing—and fucking—our girl while we were away.

When Sam had mentioned it previously, I’d really disregarded the idea as a bit of a joke. But Noah sat before me looking like a guy who’d been dumped. And I really didn’t know how I felt about that.

“Well, thanks for keeping me in the loop, boys. I gotta ask you, Noah,” I growled through gritted teeth. “Is there any chance you got Gracey pregnant?”

Noah didn’t look surprised by the question, but he shook his head. “I definitely didn’t. And neither did Brandon.”

“What the fuck has Brandon got to do with the price of fish?” I shouted.

Noah shot an anxious glance at Sam, who merely raised his eyebrows. “My brother and Grace are like that,” he said and crossed over his fingers. “Didn’t you know? They have been for over a year. You can tell by they way they look at each other, they seem like two halves of a whole that were made to go together.”

I scratched my head and looked up at Sam, who looked just as confused by this revelation. “In all the time that I’ve hung out with Grace and that I’ve hung out with you and Brandon, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Grace and Brandon in the same place together.”

“No. Me neither, man. So what makes you think Brandon ain’t the father?”

“As far as I know, they haven’t slept together. I’m pretty sure both of them would’ve told me if they’d gone that far.”

This was a morning of revelations. While I felt disgruntled by the new information, it wasn’t Noah’s fault. And Grace was entitled to fuck who ever she wanted to. I was in no position to judge. But I had questions, like how were Noah and Grace so close that she might confide in him who she was sleeping with?

“Okay, Sam. Explain to me what’s going on here. Why does our Gracey want this geeky dude and his brother when she could have us?”

“Isn’t it obvious? No matter how hard we try, we’re kinda the same in a lot of ways, man. For all our top grades, we act like a couple of meatheads much of the time, more muscles than brains, ready to bust a door down sometimes. Maybe she needs someone who thinks before they leap, someone like Noah. But Noah’s like a kid—no offense, dude—so perhaps she likes the more mature man that is Brandon.”

“Okay, Noah, what do you think?”

“I’d kill for that girl. Well, I’d hire a hitman from the dark web. Well, I probably wouldn’t really, but I’d think about it. So you twins better not hurt her. Brandon’s too much like me. We’ll be the good guys she turns to when she’s had enough of you bad guys.”